


Age

by rynglrycrnwll



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Child Abuse, Drug Abuse, Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Klaus Hargreeves-centric, M/M, Murder, Other, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Sibling Bonding, Sibling Love, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-13
Updated: 2019-03-13
Packaged: 2019-11-16 16:59:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18098423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rynglrycrnwll/pseuds/rynglrycrnwll
Summary: Klaus was six years old and he already knew he wasn't special. All of Klaus's siblings had powers except Vanya. Luther was strong and had been since he was a baby. Diego had been throwing knives and other cutlery since he was a child. Allison had been rumoring people since she could talk. Five had been spacial jumping for as long as anyone could remember, which was extremely difficult when they had been children. Ben had just recently discovered his powers, and scary as they were, they were there. Even Vanya was good at something, she was really good at violin. Klaus however didnt know his power so he knew he wasn't special.





	Age

Klaus was six years old and he already knew he wasn't special. All of Klaus's siblings had powers except Vanya. Luther was strong and had been since he was a baby. Diego had been throwing knives and other cutlery since he was a child. Allison had been rumoring people since she could talk. Five had been spacial jumping for as long as anyone could remember, which was extremely difficult when they had been children. Ben had just recently discovered his powers, and scary as they were, they were there. Even Vanya was good at something, she was really good at violin. Klaus however didnt know his power so he knew he wasn't special.

Klaus was seven now and he still didn't have powers. Training had just finished and Klaus was in his room playing with some makeshift toys Vanya had made him out of clay and cloth scraps. Klaus heard a noise behind him near his door, assuming it was one of his siblings, he turned around. Instead of a friendly face it was a woman. Her face seemed to be ripped open and her teeth were showing where her lip was missing. Her nose was scratched away and one of her eyes was gone. She wore a blue sundress that had been ripped open in various places especially her stomach. Her organs hung out of the hole in her abdomen and Klaus could see bite marks taken out of them. Klaus thought he was going to puke. The woman was screaming his name, asking him to help her. She screamed at him over and over again until Klaus put his hands over his ears and screamed himself. He screamed until his voice was raw and Luther was trying to shake him out of it. He screamed until Reginald came in the room and stared at him with a disapproving glare. He screamed until Pogo had to come in and sedate him. 

Klaus was eight now and he was used to seeing the dead. They were everywhere and almost always screaming but he'd learned to somewhat ignore them. Whenever it got too bad he'd sneak into one of his siblings rooms and sleep in their bed. Klaus looked at the wall furthest from him. Right now there was a man standing there in a rebel civil war uniform with a gaping hole in his head. He was screaming for help. Klaus was so sick of the screaming. He got up, careful to avoid the man who was still screaming and walked out of his room. He made his way slowly down the hall, no one was following him this time. He finally got to Diego's room. Slipping inside he slammed the door behind him, sighing in relief when there was only Diego, asleep on his bed, in the room. Klaus walked over and slipped under the covers next to Diego who just rolled over and held his brother.

Klaus was nine and had seen so many dead people. He knew what fear was, he experienced it every second of every day. He was with Vanya when his father had enough of him being scared, ripping Klaus away and shoving him in a cold dark space that he would later learn was a mausoleum. Reginald had told him he needed to get over his fear so he locked Klaus in a mausoleum for an entire night. The dead were screaming louder than ever and Klaus couldn't go to his family this time. He curled up on the floor and waited for the screaming to stop.

Klaus was ten and he was used to being locked in the mausoleum. The cold floor greeted him more often than not. Klaus was getting used to the blinding headaches because of the constant screaming. Klaus disappeared with Reginald often, leaving everyone behind. Whenever his siblings asked where he was, their voices full of concern, Klaus would lie. Klaus was getting extremely good at lying. After a visit to the mausoleum he'd often go to Ben's room and curl up. Often Ben would grab Vanya and Diego and they'd comfort Klaus. He still wouldn't tell them what was wrong. He was used to the screams.

Klaus was eleven when the ghosts first fought back. Another mausoleum trip, another night in the cold darkness of the small stone room. It was routine for Klaus at this point. What wasn't routine was the scratches. Klaus's legs were red and bloody from the claws of the damned. After a few more times of mild injury Klaus was almost killed. Reginald took a small break from Klaus's training but after a few months the routine started back up. Luther and Allison had stopped worrying. Five worried in his own way, often showing up near Klaus, when he was at his worst, to hold conversations with him as if Five could tell when Klaus needed a distraction. Vanya found out her violin calmed Klaus down so when she practiced she'd let him sit down and listen, it often ended with Diego joining and Klaus falling asleep on him. Ben almost never left Klaus's side. Reginald continued the training.

Klaus was twelve when tried numbing his powers. He stole some of Reginald's fancy liquor and chugged. The alcohol worked temporarily but hangover made the screaming worse. Klaus gave up on numbing the pain for a bit and instead continued on with his normal routine as if he wasn't going crazy. He wondered if the screaming would ever stop. If one day he could go outside and not see the dead. Klaus tried to learn violin that year, he was terrible at it but Vanya was so nice that he kept trying. When he learned one sing he preformed for Five, Diego, Vanya and Ben. Halfway through his performance Mom and Pogo joined and applauded Klaus. That was one of his happiest memories.

Klaus was thirteen when he got into his first non mission fight. Reginald was out of town for a bit on a business trip. Klaus was over joyed because it meant less training sessions and therefore less time being trapped in the stone coffin. He had made some of his thoughts vocal. Such as how Reginald was cruel and Klaus was glad he had a break from training. He'd thought it was harmless, he thought everyone would agree. Luther however didn't agree and at that point Klaus didn't care. He said some hurtful things and Luther made sure to say some back. Eventually it went too far and Luther threw a punch, and then another and another. Allison was screaming at him to stop and Klaus had always wondered why she didn't rumor him. Ben and Diego eventually pulled Luther off of Klaus's like body, he'd passed out. He ended up with a black eye, broken nose, split lip, and a broken wrist. Luther apologized and Klaus pretended to forgive him. He later realized Allison didn't rumor Luther because she cared more about him than Klaus getting hurt. The realization stung but it wasn't anything hadn't suspected before. Then Five disappeared and Klaus's world shattered. He started being reckless, trying to distract himself from the gaping hole his brother left behind.

Klaus was fourteen when he first started sneaking out of the house. Klaus loved his siblings and craved affection from them but he needed other people in his life. Klaus met his first boyfriend this way. Klaus pretended he was sixteen and his boyfriend pretended to believe him. His name was Adam and he was in his twenties. Klaus thought he was in love, Adam was the first to introduce Klaus to drugs. Klaus took his first hit of something, he didn't remember what it was, and he was hooked. The ghosts and the screaming, they were gone. Klaus took another hit and crashed his lips against Adams. The next day he stumbled his way back home, greeting a worried quartet in his room. Five gave Klaus a look that meant they'd be talking later and left. Vanya just hugged Klaus while Diego and Ben scolded him and asked where he had been. They ended up cuddling for most of the day until Reginald caught them and sent the others out. Klaus snuck out almost every night to meet with Adam and get high. Klaus later found out Adam had a fiancee. Klaus didn't date again that year.

Klaus was fifteen when he developed a dependence on drugs. Shooting up was the only thing that kept Klaus from going insane. He had copious amounts of pills stashed around his room and often sold off Reginald's valuables for more cash to buy the substances he used to keep away the screams. His siblings noticed something was up because he wasn't sick this often a few months ago. They all had their own reactions to Klaus's new habit. Luther made comments about how he knew this would happen and how Klaus was a burden. He managed to make Klaus feel like shit without actually saying anything directly hurtful. Allison tried to talk to Klaus once before giving up and being disappointed in him. Diego would never admit it but whenever he could, he would sneak out after Klaus to make sure he was safe. Ben made sure he was there for Klaus no matter what. Vanya stayed how she was, an anchor for Klaus to cling to whenever he needed.

Klaus was sixteen when he first got on his knees for a fix. He'd ran out of money and needed something, his stash of pills was completely used up. So he paid for his drugs another way. Once Klaus realized he had a talent for this he managed to spend less and less of his money on drugs. He actually managed to buy birthday presents for his siblings the next year. He never told anyone what he had gotten up to but he was sure they knew, he'd seen Diego around a couple of times and knew it wasn't for his own fun. The only time Klaus felt clean was falling asleep on Vanya's lap while she played her violin for him. Klaus decided to save up enough money to buy Vanya a new violin.

Klaus was seventeen the first time he overdosed. To this day he still doesn't know if it was an accident. He spent two months in the hospital and another in rehab. When he was in the hospital his siblings never left his side, even Luther.  
Rehab was a cold place, literally, Klaus had lost a lot of weight and the air conditioning in the building was freezing. Then more than ever Klaus missed Vanya and her warm hugs. He missed how Diego was like a furnace and he missed how whenever Ben was cold he'd burrow into Klaus's bed and refuse to leave. Klaus didn't like how the cold tile felt so similar to the cold mausoleum floor. Klaus finally made it through rehab and the first thing he did was get high again. The high made him forget about the mausoleum, and five, and his father and Adam. 

Klaus was eighteen when Ben died. They'd gone on a mission and someone had managed to sneak up behind Ben and shoot him. Klaus had gotten sober for the funeral and to his surprise, Ben showed up next to him. The only one who believed him was Vanya, she always tell when he lied. Although, Diego could too but it seemed as if Diego didn't care right now, he just wanted to be ok. Diego was the first of the siblings to leave the academy. He didn't even say goodbye, he just left a note for Klaus and Vanya and the disappeared. Klaus tried to pretend it. didn't feel like Five all over again. Surprisingly, Allison was the second to leave, she'd gotten a big role in some indie movie. Luther was crushed when she left. Klaus and Vanya decided to leave before Luther took it out on them. Vanya started teaching music to kids and Klaus decided to make money by being a medium. With Ben, and occasionally Vanya's, help Klaus managed to get clean. 

Klaus was twenty and he was doing good. He had a job, friends and he managed to get contact with Diego. He went to every one of Allison's movies and every single one of Vanya's concerts. Every year on the day Five disappeared be tried to contact him, he found comfort in the lack of contact because that meant Five was alive. Klaus still drank and occasionally smoked weed but he hadn't touched anything else in two years. Klaus was ok for the first time in a while.

Klaus was thirty when Reginald died and when he relapsed for the first time in ten years.

 

 

 

 


End file.
